It wasn’t that he hated the house. No, it was a wonderful house. It was just that it reminded him of what  a waste it had all been.

His entire life had been wrapped up in acquisition so much that he’d entirely forgotten what it was like to be human.

Well, that’s not exactly true. He wasn’t really human, was he?

But, he’d lived among them so long he almost felt like he was one.

Still, when the council decided to pull the plug, the whole experiment, he thought “Why?” There was so much to be learned – more than they could ever learn in centuries.

In fact, it had been centuries they were studying the humans, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

Thinking about the recent call to return to planet Quanas, he tried to recall any memories of growing up there, but they were long dimmed as if it was another life.

Remembering the day he arrived on Earth and began to search for a host he was amazed at how surprisingly easy it was to find a host body.

It was a good thing the humans discarded so many of their young.

He didn’t like the idea of taking a life. It seemed beneath him, somehow.

That’s why the abortion clinics were a hotbed of activity for his kind. It seemed that many of his fellow travelers wanted nothing to do with taking an active host – with all of its memories and lifetime experiences.

No, it was better to start anew. Something fresh, untainted, as it were. It didn’t matter that they were dead or dismembered – if the child had been destroyed as long as 24 hours before the body was discovered it was possible to regenerate life; the soul had long since departed.

The question now was, what was he to do with this body? The council had suggested dumping it in a remote location, but that didn’t seem quite right.  Sure, he wouldn’t leave behind a family or even friends, but there were acquaintances…maybe the council would change their minds and let him stay…after all, he’d been Frank Brody for so long now, it all seemed such a waste.

No, they were pretty absolute…doubt that could happen.

What if he did leave abruptly, leaving this shell behind?

Would anybody really mourn him? Would they even miss him?

Sure, Susie at the grocery store would wonder why he hadn’t been in to restock on his supply of Twinkies and Mountain Dew.

Man, he loved that stuff!

Yeah, it wasn’t good for this body, but still, it was wonderful tasting things, feeling things.

It was different on his home planet.

Emotions had been wiped out centuries before he had been hatched.

On his home planet emotions, while not specifically forbidden, were not spoken of and in fact, if any hatchlings were to suggest any feelings of any sort their peers and their role models would quickly stamp out any thought on the matter. Continue reading “No Other World But Earth”

 

Betty was a small town girl, but that didn’t mean she always would be.

It would take about a year at this rate to collect the names…but that was not soon enough so she had to step it up. Faster.

The plan was simple, really.

Just begin by tapping into the church social circle to see who hadn’t been to the house yet for dinner. Her folks always invited new church visitors over for dinner. After she’d written down all of the right names from her family’s church she’d look at others.

There were some new members…the Carlyles. A man, his wife and two boys.

Mrs. Carlyle…Angie…was hard to speak with because she always slipped out before Betty could corner her.

Angie rarely brought her husband but her son Mason always came. Lewis stayed at home with his dad.

Typical, thought Betty.

Jedidiah had told her 65 names was what it took for her dreams to come true. Just give him the names and she would be able to leave this stupid town and never look back.

He gave her a book. A number of strange symbols were carved into the cover which was made of leather…or something that looked like leather, but it didn’t smell anything like leather. It had a strange, pungent smell that made Betty’s eyes water every time she wrote in it. That’s why she waited until she had a number of names before she wrote them in the book.

Betty wondered what Jedidiah wanted the names for. Maybe they owed him money or something. She didn’t know why he wanted them and she honestly didn’t care. All she wanted was out of here – no matter what. Continue reading “The Name Collector”